Jerry Rice who played for both the Niners and the Raiders
with LaHitz' Jacquie Taliaferro
with LaHitz' Jacquie Taliaferro
San Francisco 49ers Fans vs. Oakland Raiders Fans
by Jacquie Taliaferro & Jackie Wright
The NFL pre-season is well underway. The Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers are looking in top form again with head coach Mike Tomlin primed to repeat a "winner takes all season."
Our own Bay Area teams are also looking to regain their Super Bowl winning ways. The 49ers with 5 Super Bowl rings and their East Bay neighbors the Raiders with 3 rings want to go all the way again. It is no secret that animosity between Oakland and San Francisco fans runs very high with both cities enormously proud of their franchises (Click Here and See Lahitz - You Tube-for a look at the fans' highlights or lowlights depending on who you ask.)
The 49ers-Raiders' game ended with a 21 to 20 win for the 49ers however it is the pre season and had fortune and planning been different, most likely a field goal kicked by the Raiders would have tied the game. Instead, the Raiders fell short going after the entire enchilada with a two point conversion attempt.
JaMarcus Russell QB for the Raiders looked good; pretty good. Former 49ers QB Jeff Gracia also did well, considering he was playing injured.
Starter and former first pick in the over all NFL draft, Alex Smith did a good job also, as did last year's Shaun Hill. However, it was the third string Quarterbacks that showed their emerging talent. Charlie Frye for the Raiders led them to a TD and finished the game looking very confident. Nate Davis for the 49ers, a rookie from Ball State, where he also broke many of Steelers' Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger conference college records, is coming out the pocket very strong.
Let's see how this season develops. Two little known QBs might be running the show.
******************************************************************************************
LaHitz Sports Columnist
Douglas Latham
'Tis the Season!'
Once again, football is upon us. All our teams are in first place, and the Super Bowl is still within our grasp. Summer in America. It doesn't get any better.
The San Francisco Forty-Niners played their initial pre-season game against the Denver Broncos, and managed to pull out a victory, mainly because the opposing coach, the embattled Josh McDaniel, went for the win, as opposed to the tie.
After going 7 and 9 last season, under Hall of Fame coach Mike Singletary, the "Niner Nation" is eagerly anticipating a playoff season, with or without their first round draft pick, Michael Crabtree, the All-America Wide Receiver from Texas Tech. Mr. Crabtree had a fabulous career at Texas Tech, with over 40 touchdowns in just two years and was considered a top four or five pick. Mr. Crabtree was drafted at number 10 overall; prior to the draft, Crabtree underwent foot surgery and was unable to workout for teams, thus his slide to the 10th spot. He has yet to sign with the Niners, because he feels he should still get top four or five draft choice money, not tenth. I can certainly understand his position, because this contract is not just for this year, but for possibly the next five or six.
The tenuous nature of a professional football player's playing days is such that you've got to get what you can get when you can get it, so I'm here to offer a compromise, to the club and the ballplayer. Come to camp, sign a contract that's normal for the tenth pick, include language that gives the Mr. Crabtree a huge Roster Bonus in the third year if he out performs his contract. Guarantee the fifth year. Put incentives in for touches and touchdowns. Mr. Crabtree needs to understand, no one has seen him run for a year, and to commit 40 million dollars to someone whose health is in question is not a sound business practice. And the Niners need to understand, if Crabtree comes back tough, he could be a Hall of Famer in wait.
Now, "git 'er done."
************************************************************************************************************
I'm Just Sayin'!
byJackie Wright
Ok...Ok....Mr. McNabb! Mr. McNabb, I guess I'm going to have to practice what I preach, "forgive us as we forgive those who..."
You were not on my forgiven list by any stretch of the imagination, by any
McNabb Vick means necessary; no way Jose and Josefina! But with the way you are treating Michael Vick, I must move you to the top of the list.
I thought you were cute and all of that, great player, loved the way you had your Mom in the on the family wealth making plan, serving up soup and all of that, but I held the way you treated T.O. against you. McNabb and T.O., 'why can't we all just get along?"
For some reason, I just thought you should have been bigger than T.O.'s immaturity. My goodness with one glance anyone could see he was a hurting soul. McNabb, you just came across to me as the classroom teacher's pet egging on the bad boy just before the teacher stepped back into the classroom.
Anyway, we can put all of that behind us now. T.O. did get another chance with Dallas and you have welcomed Vick home. I loving you for that McNabb. I'm loving you for that! Hopefully, it's not just all P.R. Hype!
I don't care what all the mainstream sportswriters are saying about Vick. Could they just give it a rest, pleez! He did his time for the crime; so, stop crucifying him.
McNabb, McNabb, McNabb, you're the man! Kudos to you and your teammates for welcoming Vick in the fold. That's what I'm talking 'bout!
And while they have Vick making restitution to the animal kingdom on his time off by making speeches and donations, will some of those animal kingdom businesses also give back to the inner city communities through job creation and doing business with inner city businesses instead of tipping the community with chump change donations to nonprofits (It will be a rare thing to find that they are even doing that. Check out the Greenlining Institute's report that there is a tremendous disparity in giving by foundations to minority led nonprofits.
I'm just sayin'!
